San Paolo di Jesi is situated on the right side of the Esino river, on a little hill leaned against that of Staffolo. The village offers beautiful walks with wonderful landscapes, which invites the tourist to stand for a while, enjoying the peace of these places.
Thanks to its geographical position, repaired from the winds, San Paolo di Jesi is an agreeable winter resort. The Commune has got a population of 844 inhabitants and a surface of 10,07 Km3.
It's easy to be reached from the biggest centres of the valley and from the Adriatic coast.
Height 224 m.
History Its origin is surely tied to a small church situated in
this area and dedicated to St.Paul; it must belong to the
monks. The toponym "Castrum Montis Sancti ",
original name of the first inhabited centre of this area,
draws its name from this church.
The first documentation of the name "castrum" goes
back to 1709 while the first reference to San Paolo as a
castle of the rural area of Jesi, was found in 1275.
According to the historical documents, in 1286, the two
"castra" of Staffolo and San Paolo took part in
the border correction between the Communes of Jesi and Osimo.
During the middle centuries of the modern age, San Paolo
boasted 6 churches inside the inhabited centre; the major
church was St. Mary of Arc with the attached Augustinian
monastery. Today, only a few walls of this monastery are
left.
In 1652, thanks to the Pope Innocent X, this monastery was
closed and, as a document of its activities, the community
of San Paolo inherited a wonderful historiated goblet in
silver and golden copper, bearing the year 1523 and the name
of the ancient owner, i.e. a church, written on it.
In 1928 San Paolo was unified with Staffolo and it had back
its autonomy only in 1946.
What to visit
The Parish Church - was built at the end of the XVIII century according to Giannantonio Mengoni's plan, an architect from Jesi. Inside the church is kept an altar piece (1620) representing "The Virgin with the Apostles", painted by Cristoforo Roncalli. Very beautiful are also a chiselled goblet (1523) in golden copper and a baptismal font (1708).
Always inside the Church is kept the Ancient Christians' Organ of the XVIII century, which presents a 21-pipe façade; the pipes are arranged in a single pinnacle span provided with wings.
The Virgin of the Mercy or Cemetery Church - Here, there are kept some rests of a fresco painted by Andrea from Jesi; the fresco represents the Virgin keeping the inhabitants of San Paolo under her mantle.
Town Hall Tower - Ascribed to the Architect Mattia Capponi, it is perhaps one of the most proportioned towers of the Vallesina, with its baroque lines recalling the Borromeo's period. In recent times, the pinnacle of the bell-cell has been seriously damaged by a thunderbolt, that has deprived it of its elegant part.
Festivals
St. Joseph Festival- 19 th March Poetry contest dedicated to the Verdicchio - First
edition July Gastronomic Week - Feast of the Assumption Popular Agricultural Festival - 1st Sunday of August Spinsters Festival - 7/8th December. This unique
festival draws back to 1702, when according to the will
drafted by Reverend Don Antonio Agabiti, every year the
yields of an estate would have been given as a dowry to two
young women on the 8th December. The two girls would have
been drawn lots among all those women who were not married,
with honest principles, of age but not older than 20.
Nowadays, the dowry is still given to the drawn girls on
application and respecting the terms of the will, i.e. 9
months after the marriage.
The Wine Shop
As a gift to the devotion for the wine growing
and producing activities, the Municipal Administration has
created the "Wine Shop"; it has been created from
the building-recovery of an old estate just in the heart of
the historic city centre.
The good equipped and comfortable structure represents a
compulsory stop along the tourist routes of this area -
inside the Wine Shop there are several agreeable places,
where a you can taste the wide range of the Marches' wines
and the authenticity of the locally produced oil.
